


we are the crazy people

by Foreverlarrup



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Christmas, Fluff, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-24
Updated: 2012-12-24
Packaged: 2017-11-22 06:24:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/606794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foreverlarrup/pseuds/Foreverlarrup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis's crush on Liam has become much more. He's pretty sure he's <i>actually in love with Liam</i>.</p><p>“Stop being such a drama queen,” Harry rolls his eyes. “You can't fall in love with someone in the span of one day.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	we are the crazy people

**Author's Note:**

  * For [payneberry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/payneberry/gifts).



Really, none of this would have happened if it wasn't for Liam's stupid study group. Louis should ignored his mum's urgings and just stayed home on Thursday night and eventually he would have stopped pining after Liam.

 

But it's too late now. Louis's crush on Liam has become much more. He's pretty sure he's _actually in love with Liam._

 

“Stop being such a drama queen,” Harry rolls his eyes. “You can't fall in love with someone in the span of one day.”

 

“Harry, you don't understand,” Louis takes his head off his pillow to face Harry, who's leveling him with a very unimpressed look. “Liam's _perfect_. And I've known him for _years_.”

 

“You've known him for about four months, and you've never properly met him until today,” Harry points out. “Going to the same school as someone doesn't mean you've known them, it just means that you know he's a bit shit at PE.”

 

“Liam's _wonderful_ at PE,” Louis says, voice muffled by his pillow. “See, I've noticed him before. It counts. I'm in love.”

 

Harry sighs, and Louis matches him with a dreamy one.

 

\---

 

Study group was thought up by the teachers at Louis's school. It was suppose to be a place for all sorts of students to learn and focus more on their schoolwork, a place where students could help each other, a place where teenagers could bond and have fun whilst learning, or something equally as cheesy- Louis wasn't really paying that much attention to the fliers that his teacher was passing out.

 

His mother did, however, and that's what brings him to Liam's front door, a backpack full of textbooks slung over his shoulders.

 

There's only four of them at study group. There's Liam, of course, since he's hosting it, and there's Zayn, who Louis suspects is just there because he's Liam's best friend. And there Louis, and Harry who only there because Louis asked him.

 

Louis is pretty sure that a proper study group should have a real teacher, or at least real tutors, because their study group is not at all like how their teachers described and it's more like the three of them trying to get away with doing anything other than homework without Liam noticing.

 

Harry gets away with the most. He just puts his phone in the middle of a book and texts girls the entire night. It would be quite sneaky, except Harry likes to lie his book flat on a table and not at all disguise the fact that he's actually playing with his mobile instead of doing his homework. Louis isn't sure why Harry even bothers to bring a textbook, it's not like he ever studies. Liam tries to make him stop by using his sad eyes (which Zayn and Louis fall for every time) but Harry's own sad eyes are too much of a rival for Liam.

 

Zayn gets away with a lot too, because he likes to doodle in his notebook, which looks close enough to writing down answers, unless he starts to fill in dark spots in a cartoon character’s hair or something that causes a lot of scritching sounds. Then Liam will sigh at him until he stops.

 

It's the worst for Louis though. He just likes to goof off and do silly things like pour sugar down Harry's shirt or mess up Zayn's hair, but it's hard to do those things when Liam's frowning at him in his sad little way. However, after a couple weeks, Louis learns that if he's being obnoxious and disruptive enough, Liam will take him out of the living room so they can study quietly together in his bedroom, which is basically the best thing ever.

 

Liam's room is just like Louis expected it to be- everything is neatly organized and put away, and there's no lingering traces of dust on inner edges of his desk or dresser, like there is in Louis's room. All his clothes are folded up perfectly, even his _underwear_. Louis just shoves his underwear in a drawer and lets it get all rumpled and wrinkly, but then again, Louis is the type of person that goes rifling through someone else's underwear drawer when they're taking a wee, so maybe he isn't the best judge of character.

 

They study at Liam's desk, two swivel armchairs pressed close to each other, armrests bumping against each other whenever Louis tries to wheel closer to Liam, which is quite troublesome. Louis almost wants to suggest them studying on Liam's bed, but he's not sure how he could do that without scaring Liam off, or making him think that he was weird.

 

Then again, Louis is quite weird. Maybe it's good that Liam could know sooner rather than later. But on the other hand, maybe Louis should wait till Liam's too sucked into their friendship and isn't able to run off at a simple suggestion.

 

It's alright though, the whole studying at Liam's desk thing, because sometimes Liam will lean really close to Louis so he can point at diagrams and trace out the lines while he explains, and he smells really good. Like warm peppermint. And happiness. Louis isn't sure what happiness smells like, but if happiness had a smell, it would be Liam.

 

“So it's X over Y, and that equals one hundred and sixty.” Liam tells him.

 

Louis nods. “Okay.”

 

“Did you understand the equations now?”

 

“Er,” in reality, Louis is actually quite good at math, and he doesn't actually need Liam's help. What he really needs help with is his English homework, but Louis learned the hard way that if he had trouble with English, then Liam would get Zayn to help out, and Zayn isn't nearly as good smelling or nice as Liam is.

 

“Can you explain a bit more about how X equals Y times two? I'm still a bit muddled,” Louis does his best sheepish laugh and rubs his hand on the back of his neck, head tilted down bashfully, and he looks up at Liam through his eyelashes.

 

Liam blushes and Louis grins.

 

\---

 

“Harry!” Louis tries to kick open Harry's door and makes a pained sound when he realizes that it's actually shut and wouldn't just easily swing open when he pushes at it.

 

“Harry! Why is your door shut? I just stubbed my toe!” He bangs his knees against the door.

 

“Door's open,” Harry's voice sounds sleepy and Louis feels bad for waking him up, but not bad enough to not make him get up and open the door.

 

“I'm holding stuff!” He cries out. “My hands are getting tired, just hurry and open the door!” He shifts around trying to release the pressure on his arms from all the textbooks and atlases weighing them down.

 

The door finally cracks open.

 

“Hi,” Louis greets Harry with a bright grin. “Sorry for waking you up.”

 

Harry rubs at his nose. “It's okay,” he mumbles, then glances at the stack of books in Louis's arms. “What's that?”

 

“Well,” Louis walks into his room and dumps the textbooks on Harry's bed, causing some of them bounce off and thud onto the floor with a worrying sound. Louis ignores them. What he's about to say is much more important than mere books. “Well,” he repeats, “Liam's taking geography this year, and he's really bad at it.”

 

“And?”

 

“And I help him with it! I can do the whole leaning over and pointing thing.” He tilts his head at an angle. “I wonder what his favorite cologne is.”

 

Harry looks confused. “But you're not good at geography,” he says, completely missing the point. It's not about _geography_ , it's about making Liam fall in love with him and his smell.

 

“That's why we're studying up tonight!” Louis gestures at all the books on the bed and ground. “We can have a sleepover and just like, read and memorize maps and capitals.”

 

“That sounds like the worst sleepover ever.”

 

“No, it'll be fun!” Louis tells him, but his smile wanes a bit.

 

“Well...” Harry looks at the books spread out on his bed and floor, “I guess it could be,” he says, entirely unconvincingly.

 

Louis appreciates his lie so much that he only complains a little when Harry plays his godawful hipster playlist.

\---

Louis had no idea that geography was so difficult. No wonder Liam was having trouble with it.

 

“What's the capital of the United States?” Harry asks. They're huddled together under a fort of blankets and pillows, because Louis thought it would be more fun than just studying at a desk. Also because it's a _weekend_ and he doesn't actually want spend more time than necessary _learning_.

 

(But it's for Liam, so.)

 

“I don't know, Harry,” Louis groans, lolling his head on his shoulder. “Why do we even need to know the capital of America?”

 

“You're the one that wanted to learn geography,” Harry points out, sounding far too much like he's enjoying himself. “And this question is easy. Come on, we watch American shows all the time.”

 

“It's... Washington.”

 

“Washington D.C,” Harry corrects. “Okay, what's the capital of Nigeria?”

 

Louis makes a sad sound and wishes that he wasn't half as devoted to Liam as he was.

 

\---

Louis thought it was going well.

 

Liam was basically just leading Louis into his bedroom when he showed up at study group, and then Liam would help Louis with his maths homework and Louis would tell Liam (probably incorrect) facts about the globe.

 

And sometimes Liam would laugh at one of Louis's stupid jokes, his entire face crinkling up with glee and he'll give Louis a cheeky little slap on the thigh or chest, or he'll blush at something nice that Louis said about him, and-

 

Louis really, _really_ thought that it was going well.

 

But that was before he walked into a coffee shop and saw Liam snogging another boy.

 

It's Harry who sees them first. Louis is fumbling around with his change, trying to count up his coins to see if he had enough money for a chocolate frappe. It's not until he hears Harry swear quietly under his breath that he looks up.

 

A blonde boy's got Liam pressed up against the counter, giving him a hearty kiss. He's is nipping at Liam's lips, hands tucked into Liam's back pockets, and Liam's kissing back, arms loosely wound around his waist, fingers playing with the ties of his apron.

 

Louis just stares blankly until Harry whispers, “Oh, Louis,” and takes him by the shoulders, ushering him out of the coffee shop. “I'm so sorry.”

 

The door bangs shut behind them, and Louis doesn't bother to check to see if Liam saw them leaving.

 

\---

 

He goes home and lies face down on his bed and sulks, Harry petting his hair soothingly the whole time.

 

“I just really like him,” Louis says into his pillow.

 

Harry makes a sympathetic sound. “I know you do. Do you want to ditch study group tonight?”

 

“I want to ditch study group forever.”

 

“We can do that,” Harry agrees.

 

“I don't want to see Liam ever again,” Louis tells him.

 

“You won't have to for a while,” Harry points out. “Christmas break just started, so you have about three weeks before school.”

 

“Maybe I'll transfer schools.”

 

“Erm,” Harry's fingers pause for a second, “maybe.”

 

“At least then I won't have to look at Liam and his stupidly beautiful face.”

 

“That's true.” Harry keeps stroking at Louis's hair. “I'll make some hot chocolate for you, okay? And then we can do whatever you want.”

\---

Apparently, what Louis wants is to get stupidly drunk.

 

“What a twink,” Louis mumbles, swigging vodka straight from the bottle. “So tiny and... twinky.”

 

“Twink isn't an insult,” Harry points out. “Neither is twinky.”

 

“Well, it'll be easier to insult him if I knew him,” Louis grumbles, then sits up abruptly. “We should facebook him!”

 

“How can we? We don't have his name.” Harry reminds him.

 

“We can google him! Google... _blonde twink_.”

 

“I really doubt that googling _blonde twink_ would help us find out his name,” Harry tells him, but they end up googling it anyways, toggling off safe search.

 

After watching a couple highly unrealistic porn videos, Louis is back to lamenting about how much he loves Liam, and obsessively sifting through Liam's facebook friends, trying figure out which one was the one that kissed Liam.

 

“Why do so many of these people have random internet memes as their profile picture? I'm disappointed in Liam's taste in friends, I really am,” Louis says disapprovingly.

 

Harry just nods and doesn't point out the fact that Louis used to have a picture of a Power Ranger as his profile picture for a good part of eighth grade.

 

Louis eventually gives up on his search for Liam's mystery kisser, but not before he posts “ _i wish you loved me like i love you..... i just want a fucking chance_ ” as his status on facebook.

 

Harry blinks. “Aren't you still logged into _my_ facebook account?”

 

“Oh. Right.” Louis says, deleting the post, but there's already three messages from friends and Harry's phone starts to buzz with unread texts.

 

Harry sighs.

 

“You're friends with a lot of really nosy people,” Louis comments, exiting out of Harry's facebook page and switching to the tab where he's got Liam's facebook page already open and loaded.

 

“Are you going to flip through his profile pictures again?” Harry asks, peering at Louis from where he's bowed over his phone. “No judgment,” he adds.

 

“Yeah, I'm definitely not feeling the judgment,” Louis says dryly, but he flips to the next picture anyways.

 

\---

 

Louis loses resolve to cut Liam out of his life pretty quickly.

 

Pretty quickly meaning in a week.

 

“Why are we doing this again?” Harry asks Louis, his phone's light shining dimly on his face. “I thought we were avoiding Liam.”

 

“Well, I thought that too, but then I realized that I needed to grow up and face my fears.” Louis clears his throat and shuffles his feet around the porch. “Also to subtly figure out who Liam was kissing.”

 

“Okay then,” Harry's focusing on his mobile phone now, fingers tapping at the tiny keyboard.

 

Louis breathes out slowly and reaches for the doorbell. “I'm not sure I should do this,” he says, taking his hand back and turning around to face Harry. “What I do something embarrassing? What if I _cry_?”

 

Harry looks up from his cell and says, “You're not going to cry, don't be silly,” then he stretches past Louis to ring the doorbell.

 

Louis doesn't have time to prepare himself before Liam's swinging open the door.

 

“Hey guys,” Liam says cheerily, a sweet sort of cinnamon-y smell wafting out from the house. “My mum made cookies,” he says, leading them into his house. “Oh, and I brought a friend- I hope that's okay.”

 

Louis and Harry exchange looks.

 

“No problem at all, mate,” Harry says, keeping eye contact with Louis.

 

“He's doesn't go to our school, but you might have seen him before- He's everyone's friend, Niall,” Liam says over his shoulder.

 

They walk into the living room. Zayn's sketch books are scattered all over the table, but he's sitting on the couch, laughing and chatting to-

 

 _blonde twink_.

 

Louis almost wants to groan out loud. Of course Liam had to have his fucking _boyfriend_ over.

 

Harry gives Louis a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

 

The rest of the evening goes downhill from there. Liam and Niall seem to be playing footsie under the table for a good half hour, Niall giggling and making little encouraging sounds every time his foot hits Liam's with a loud thump.

 

Louis wants to stand up and shout a bit at them, but Liam does it for him.

 

Well.

 

Liam does the standing up part, anyways.

 

“I need to say something,” Liam says as he stands, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, “Er.”

 

Niall's leg flails under the table, presumably aiming for Liam but hitting Louis instead. Louis scowls.

 

“I don't really know how to say this, so I figured I'll just come out and say it.” Liam inhales slowly. “I'm gay.”

 

Louis blinks.

 

“And I think that we're all close enough to be honest with each other,” Liam tells them, “so I thought that you should know.”

 

“We love you no matter what, man,” Zayn says, standing up to hug Liam tightly, and Niall jumps into the embrace.

 

“Yeah, you're our mate not matter what,” Harry scoots back from his chair and wraps his arms around them.

 

“Yeah,” Louis mumbles, and joins the hug. Coming out is hard to do, Louis knows this from his own personal experiences, and even if Liam's coming out just because he likes another boy, it doesn't mean Louis has to be a twat.

 

“Thanks guys,” Liam looks happy and flushed, warm from where the other boys were cuddling him. “It's not really that big of a deal, I just thought you guys should know.”

 

“I'm proud of you anyways,” Niall says, beaming.

 

“So am I,” Zayn tells him, and then the five of them are making a large hugging huddle around Liam again.

 

“Thanks guys,” Liam squirms from where they're all holding him. “But we should really start on our homework. But I appreciate it!” He adds quickly. “Really. You guys are great.” He smiles warmly.

 

They settle back into their seats, and Louis is glad that Liam's happy, he really is. But.

 

But he feels a bit sad and sick. Liam's thing with Niall must be an actual official thing if he's coming out for it.

 

His phone chirps loudly on the table. Louis picks it up and sees Harry's name marked as the sender of the message.

 

_are u okay? Do u want to go home?_

 

“That's my mum,” Louis tells them, tucking his cell back in his pocket. “My sister's come down with the flu, and we don't have any medicine in the house.” He gets up from his chair and picks up his book bag. “I have to go.”

 

“Do you need me to come with?” Harry asks.

 

“No, I'm fine.” He tries to give his most convincing smile. “Just need to make sure Lottie's okay.” He turns to Liam. “But really, I'm glad for you. And your, um,” He can't bring himself to say _relationship_ , so he just waves abstractly at everything in the room and leaves.

 

\---

 

Louis sulks for a good two weeks.

 

Harry tells the boys at study group that Louis's entire family has come down with the flu and that Louis is stuck caring for them whilst being flu-ridden, but in reality it's more like Louis planted face down on his pillow and his little sisters coming in by the hour to coddle him and tell him all the things they like about him.

 

Really, Louis could do a lot worse in the sister department.

 

\---

 

Louis is out getting milk when he sees Zayn standing in the grocery shop, frowning down absently at a pack of cigarettes.

 

Louis is two seconds away from calling out a greeting before he realizes that he's suppose to be home, sick with the flu. He hastily puts the milk carton back in the fridge and ducks behind an aisle, mentally thinking of ways he can leave the shop without Zayn noticing him. He's pretty sure there's a back door he can sneak out of-

 

“Louis?”

 

Louis whirls around, accidentally knocking his head into the person behind him. “I'm so sorry!” He takes a step back when he realizes that it's Liam he just bumped into, which causes his heels to hit back against the aisle behind him. Cans crash to the ground. “Oh, shit,” He drops down, gathering up the tinned corn.

“It's alright,” Liam offers mildly, crouching down help him. There's a pause, and then- “I thought you were sick?”

 

“Oh, er,” Louis coughs and wills his skin to turn paler. “I am, but I was feeling a lot better and, well,” he shrugs, “Mum needed milk for her eggnog.”

 

“It's great that you're feeling better!” Liam says earnestly. “Zayn's having a Christmas party soon, and we were hoping you’d be completely recovered by then.” He stands up, stacks of cans piled in his arms, and Louis follows him.

 

“Oh, well, I probably won't be,” Louis says, putting the cans away two at a time, “I should just stay at home and get some rest...”

 

“Don't worry, it's next week. You should definitely be over your cold by then, right?”

 

“Flu,” Louis corrects mildly. “And I don't know, I mean, what if,” He's trying to figure out whether or not he actually wants to go to the party when Zayn suddenly pops up from behind Liam.

 

“Hey, Louis,” Zayn nods at him. “Are you feeling better?”

 

“Not really,” Louis tells him, and gives a raspy cough- or tries to, at least. Mostly it sounds like he's gagging.

 

Liam pats Louis on the back gently. “There, there.”

 

“I'm fine,” Louis tells him, and he straightens up, Liam's hand slipping off his back. Louis tries not to miss the warmth too much.

 

“I should go,” He says. “My mum is still waiting on that milk.”

 

“Right.” Liam still looks concerned. “Er- if you're feeling better by then, Zayn's party is this Saturday, at nine. If you'd like to come.”

 

“It'll be great if you could come, mate,” Zayn adds, nodding.

 

“Of course I’d like to come,” Louis tells him, then takes a few steps towards the fridge that stores the milk. “Bye guys, see you around.”

“Feel better,” Liam says, and Louis desperately wishes that he could.

 

\---

 

“And then, I said that I'll see them around, and he said, 'feel better'.” Louis recounts to Harry. They're in the kitchen, making cookies as a surprise to Louis's sisters.

 

Harry nods intently, reaching for the can of cookie cutters.

 

“Or maybe I said I'll see them later-” Louis suddenly feels a bit panicked and pauses in kneading the dough. “I'm not sure which one I said, I think I said I'll see them _around_ , but I might have said 'see you later'- I don't know-”

 

“Does it matter which one you said?” Harry asks, pressing a cookie cutter down onto the rolled out dough.

 

“If I said that I'll see them later, that implies that I'm going to the party. Doesn't it? It probably does. Oh, fuck.”

 

“Don't worry so much,” Harry says, neatly laying his uncooked Santa shaped cookie down onto the baking tray. “I'm sure Liam doesn't remember your exact words anyways.”

 

“Maybe I _should_ go the party,” Louis says, pinching off a bit of dough. “It'll be fun, right?” He pops it into his mouth.

 

“Yeah, Zayn has great parties,” Harry agrees.

 

“But what if Liam brings that other guy?”

 

Harry gives Louis a look.

 

“Okay, _fine_ , what if Liam brings Niall?”

 

“If you're uncomfortable, just leave,” Harry tells him.

 

“Huh.” Louis never thought of that.

 

“Okay, should I make any elf shaped cookies? Because this-” Harry holds up a cookie cutter- “doesn't really look like an elf.”

 

“You should, Daisy loves elves,” Louis says, then glances at the shape Harry's holding. “What the hell- that doesn't look like an elf at all.”

 

“It looks like a Christmas tree. A limp, sad Christmas tree.”

 

“You should make it anyways,” Louis tells him, “Daisy would probably know it's an elf.”

 

“Okay.”

 

They spend the rest of the night baking and trying sing Baby It's Cold Outside to completion without forgetting any of the words, and Louis doesn't think about Liam once.

 

\---

 

Saturday night, Louis gets a text from Liam.

_Are you comingggggg thennnn? :)_

Louis sends a _yeah :)_ before he can think too much of it.

 

\---

 

“Maybe we shouldn't go,” Louis tells Harry on the night of the party, poking his head out of his closet. “What if it's awful?”

 

Harry gives Louis a funny look. “Then we'll leave. What are you so worried about?”

 

“Everything!” He sticks his head back into his closet, “I don't know what I want to wear! And there's only-” he checks his watch- “five more hours until the party, Harry, fuck.”

 

“We don't _have_ to go-”

 

“But I _told_ Liam that I would!” Louis wails. “What if he's upset that I'm not there? Or worse, what if I don't go and he doesn't even realize that I'm not there?”

 

“Don't freak out,” Harry says uselessly.

 

Louis huffs in frustration and keeps looking through his closet.

 

\---

 

It takes him three outfit changes and a bottle of beer for a little liquid courage, but eventually, Harry and Louis are walking up the path that leads to Zayn's house.

 

“If it's awful, we're leaving, so stick close, okay?” Louis tells Harry as they enter the gate. They can already hear laughter and cheering coming from the house, music blasting.

 

“Okay,” Harry agrees, tucking his phone back into his pocket. “Oh, hey, look, it's Caroline-” He begins to jog over to the fence that separates Zayn's house from his neighbor's house and Louis curses his best friend's inability not to chat up hot women.

 

“So much for sticking close,” he mutters to himself, debating on whether or not he should just go ahead to party without Harry.

 

“Louis!” Liam's coming out of the house, beer bottle tucked in hand. “You made it! Yay!” He slings an arm around Louis's, warm and easy, leading them toward Zayn's house, and Louis smiles. “I'm so happy that you're here, I practiced and everything,” Liam waves his bottle around sloppily as he talks.

 

“How many of these have you had?” Louis takes the bottle out of Liam's hand, wondering how drunk Liam had to be to be saying things that didn't make sense.

 

Liam squints a bit, “Um, I'm not sure- Zayn gave me a lot. Him and Perrie kept telling me to man up-” he slaps a hand over his mouth and giggles. “I'm not suppose to say why,” he whispers to Louis, then giggles some more.

 

“O-kay,” Louis takes a swig of Liam's bottle, effectively emptying it. “Where's, er, Niall?”

 

Liam shrugs. “He's probably playing beer pong.” He snorts and presses his side closer to Louis. “He thinks that winning it would impress girls, or something.”

 

“You're okay with that?” Louis asks, drawing his eyebrows close.

 

Liam doesn't answer and abruptly stops, causing Louis to stumble a bit since their arms are still locked together.

 

“Liam?”

 

“Oh look,” Liam says, then clears his throat. “We're standing under mistletoe.” He points to the small leafy branch that's taped above the doorway.

 

Louis glances up, then back at Liam. “I think that's holly, Liam.”

 

Liam seems to droop a bit. “Oh. Well, er,” He flounders a bit, then pulls out his cell phone out from his pocket.

 

Louis raises an eyebrow at how fast Liam punches the keys on his phone. “Liam, are you okay?”

 

“I'm fine,” Liam tells him, then looks up from his cell. “Please don't leave.” He focuses back on his phone.

 

“Okay,” Louis tells him. He tells himself that he's staying because Liam probably needs someone to watch over him, but really it's just because drunk Liam is handsy and happy and-

 

Louis just really missed him.

 

Liam's phone buzzes loudly in his hand, startling them both. Liam flips open his phone and brightens. Clearing his throat, he says, “Well, what if you're wrong? We shouldn't break tradition.”

 

Louis blinks. He's not positive, but he's pretty sure Liam's reading out loud from his phone. “What?” He wishes he had another beer. This feels like the kind of conversation one should be drunk for.

 

“We shouldn't break tradition.” Liam gestures at the maybe-mistletoe. “We should kiss, just in case.” He even leans forward a bit, and it kills Louis to lean back.

 

“Wait, wait-” Louis puts out a hand. “What are you talking- What about Niall?”

 

Liam's eyebrows scrunch down. “What _about_ Niall?” He takes a step back, frowning a bit. “Do you like Niall?”

 

“No!” Louis blurts. “Of course not. Isn't he your boyfriend?”

 

Liam looks even more confused. “No. He's just my mate. Why would you think that he's my boyfriend?”

 

“Well, because-” Louis is stammering a bit now. “I- You guys- I saw you guys kiss. In the cafe.”

 

Liam reddens. “Oh. That.” He rubs his hand over his head. “That was just- er. Niall was just helping me figure out the whole- you know,” he waves a hand at Louis, “boy thing.”

 

“Boy thing?”

 

Liam nods, still blushing. “The whole liking boys thing. Because, I wasn't sure if I properly liked boys, or if it was just-” He pauses, then pulls at his collar. “Or was it just you.”

 

Louis is pretty sure his jaw dropped, but he's not sure. He's also pretty sure that he made some sort of unidentifiable sound, but he's praying to God that he didn't.

 

“I'm sorry-” Liam laughs sheepishly, avoiding Louis's eyes. “This is stupid. I don't know what I was thinking-”

 

“No-” Louis impulsively grabs for Liam, even though Liam wasn't actually going anywhere. “We can't break tradition,” he says firmly, then leans forward and presses his lips against Liam's.

\---

Christmas break turns out to be pretty great.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is for Caitlin (eachtoeach on lj, sansastarks on AO3) for the 1D Holidaze. Her request was: _Liam and Louis have been friends for awhile and both have been hiding their feelings for each other. At Zayn and Perrie's holiday shindig, they arrive at the same time, stepping under the mistletoe together._
> 
> I hope that you like it, Caitlin!
> 
> (also much thanks to shrdmdnssftw for beta'ing and just generally being a wonderful person <3)


End file.
